Mediagazer: On the Media: Struggling KCET examines its options (Los Angeles Times)

2:40 PM ET, August 4, 2010

Top News:

The Savior of Condé Nast: Scott Dadich Is The New It Boy of the Mag World — Someday, when they tell the story of how digital magazines saved Conde Nast, it will begin in San Francisco's Caffé Centro sometime in May 2009. — It was there that Wired creative director Scott …

Discussion: MediaPost, Romenesko, paidContent, Metropolis, MediaMemo, New York Magazine and FishbowlNY

John Koblin / New York Observer:

Conde Nast Hires Joe Simon to New Executive Tech Position — Conde Nast is all about the future these days! Scott Dadich is the Big Man on Campus at 4 Times Square. Bob Sauerberg is suddenly all powerful! Tom Wallace, the editorial director, has been telling us, emphatically, that digital magazines represent “the future.”

Discussion: Silicon Alley Insider, AdAge and Gawker

Rebecca Dana / The Daily Beast:

Newsweek's Hidden Problem — Not only is Newsweek's new owner new to the media world, the money-losing magazine is holding on to the CEO who devised its business strategy. Plus, view the confidential memo obtained by The Daily Beast. — As 91-year-old radio magnate Sidney Harman begins …

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, On Media's Blog, The Politico, eMedia Vitals, Silicon Alley Insider and Press Gazette

Zeke Turner / New York Observer:
Sidney Harman Talks to the ‘Newsweek’ Staff

Discussion: CJR, The Wire and The Politico

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:

iPad Apps Are Fun! But Boring Old Magazines Are Still Big Business For Time Inc. — iPad apps are fun to talk about. They may even but the future of the magazine business! But for now, magazine publishing is still a print and ink proposition, and that's not necessarily a terrible thing.

Discussion: paidContent

Joe Pompeo / Silicon Alley Insider:
Time Warner CEO Talks Up Conan, iPad Apps, Broadband HBO On Demand

Discussion: paidContent, Crain's New York Business, The Wrap and Variety

The Huffington Post:

Michael Hastings, Reporter Whose Rolling Stone Article Felled McChrystal, Denied Afghan Embed — WASHINGTON — The author of the Rolling Stone article that ended the military career of Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the former top commander in Afghanistan, has been denied permission …

Discussion: Mediaite and Gawker

Nancy A. Youssef / McClatchy Washington Bureau: Army probing McChrystal staff over Rolling Stone interview

Wall Street Journal:

On the Web's Cutting Edge, Anonymity in Name Only — You may not know a company called [x+1] Inc., but it may well know a lot about you. — From a single click on a web site, [x+1] correctly identified Carrie Isaac as a young Colorado Springs parent who lives on about $50,000 a year, shops at Wal-Mart and rents kids' videos.

Discussion: Stephen Baker and Deal Journal

Brian Womack / Bloomberg:

Facebook Advertisers Boost Spending 10-Fold, Sandberg Says — Facebook Inc.'s biggest advertisers have boosted spending by at least 10-fold in the past year as the social network crossed the half- billion user mark, becoming more alluring to marketers that want to reach a broad online audience.

Discussion: TechCrunch, Noted, eMedia Vitals and Media Buyer Planner, more at Techmeme »

Andy Carvin / NPR:

Results From Our Survey Of NPR Facebook Fans — NPR's presence on Facebook is growing. Earlier this month, our Facebook page surpassed one million fans. — We recently turned to those fans to get to know them better, to learn what types of stories they like, and to find out what they think of each other …

Discussion: Romenesko and New York Observer

Los Angeles Times:

On the Media: Struggling KCET examines its options — The public TV station might form a consortium with other area PBS affiliates, sell its studios or even leave the network to improve its financial fortunes, programming slate and public profile. — ByJames Rainey

Discussion: TVWeek.com and L.A. NOW

Financial Times:

Motorola and Verizon team up for TV tablet — Motorola is developing a digital tablet device that will allow users to watch television on it, as the US mobile phone group attempts to chip away at a market established by Apple's popular iPad. — The device, which will have a 10-inch screen …

Discussion: NewTeeVee, Jacket Copy, Techland, Fortune, Multichannel News, Fast Company, Engadget, CrunchGear, Gizmodo, Silicon Alley Insider and Digital Daily, more at Techmeme »

Jemima Kiss / Guardian:

Murdoch: tablets are the future — Rupert Murdoch was cosying up to Apple again today as he spoke at a media debate in Sydney earlier today, saying tablets are “a perfect platform” for cheap, convenient and up-to-date News Corp content. — News Corp has “tens of thousands of readers” …

Discussion: TeleRead, Silicon Alley Insider, MediaPost, Garcia Media, Gawker, Poynter Online and Shaping the Future …

Michael Mandel / The Wire:

The Evolution Of The Journalism Job Market: We May Be Headed Into A Golden Age — This post was republished with permission from Mandel on Innovation and Growth. — As I travel around the country talking about the economy and journalism, I usually make two points.

Discussion: Press Gazette and Kirk LaPointe's …

Keith J. Kelly / New York Post:

Down-town & country — CondÉ Nast didn't win over any employees as friends when it formally announced yesterday that it is in “active discussions” with the Durst Organization and the Port Authority of New York to move into 1 World Trade Center by 2014, vacating its current headquarters at 4 Times Square.

Discussion: Gawker, WWD, MinOnline, New York Observer, Gothamist, New York Magazine and New York Times

Matthew Belloni / Hollywood Reporter:

GAWKER PAYS TO SETTLE ‘MCSTEAMY’ COPYRIGHT SUIT — A legal battle on the cutting edge of celebrity media and copyright law has ended with gossip blog conglom Gawker Media agreeing to pay actors Eric Dane and Rebecca Gayheart and take down a homemade threesome video featuring the couple.

Discussion: Mediaite

Mike Shields / Mediaweek:

Report: Mobile Video Advertising Set to Take Off — Back in 2005, the measurement firm M: Metrics (now owned by comScore) estimated that just 1 percent of mobile phone users had watched any form of mobile video—around 2 million people. Needless to say, the ad market for mobile video was virtually nonexistent.

Discussion: MediaPost

Wall Street Journal:

Barnes & Noble on Block — Bookseller Explores Options, Pressured by Low Stock Price and Digital Onslaught — Barnes & Noble Inc., put itself up for sale Tuesday, succumbing to pressure from shareholder activists as digital books erode the traditional business of the nation's largest bookstore chain.

Discussion: Gawker, DealBook, Business Wire, bookforum.com, Kindle Review, GalleyCat, Between the Lines Blog, New York Magazine and Voices on All Things Digital

Lauren Goode / Digits:

Groupon Moves Into TV Land, Does Deals With Top Chefs — Groupon.com, a website that offers local daily deals through group coupons, is teaming up with restaurants owned by Top Chef contestants from the show on the Bravo TV network. — From August 4 through August 8 …

Charlie Savage / New York Times:

After Afghan War Leaks, Revisions in a Shield Bill — WASHINGTON — Democratic senators who have been working on legislation providing greater protections to reporters who refuse to identify confidential sources are backpedaling from WikiLeaks, the Web site that recently disclosed …

Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:

Forbes Sells Investopedia To ValueClick In $42 Million Deal — Online marketing services company ValueClick is buying financial information and investing education website Investopedia from Forbes for approximately $42 million in cash. — The reasons for the purchase: content, traffic …

Discussion: Business Wire and paidContent, more at Techmeme »

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:

AOL Gets Out of Kayak — Forgive me if this is old news, but it seemed new to me: AOL says it has sold off its stake in Kayak, the giant travel site, (OK, not giant. But big among the iPad-owning tech set, at least) for $19 million. The company mentions the deal as an aside …

Discussion: paidContent:UK

Robert Niles / Online Journalism Review:

On the Internet, no one has to be a gatekeeper, but everyone can be — By Robert Niles: We've well established by now that the Internet has crippled the news industry's role as gatekeeper of information in society. News sources now can communicate directly with the public, with unprecedented immediacy and scale.

Discussion: The Daily Beast